Thursday, January 25, 2018

People Are Paying Thousands of Dollars for Crypto Celebrities on the Blockchain

 

Anything can be placed on the blockchain with a little ingenuity – even Hollywood celebrities. Cryptocelebrities is this week's Cryptokitties, a smart contract-based trading game which profits from digital scarcity. Only one copy of each celebrity is released, compelling traders to spend thousands of dollars to snap up 'celebs' like Satoshi Nakamoto and Emma Watson.

Celebrities on the Blockchain Because 2018
On paper, a game like Cryptocelebrities sounds as dumb as last month's big crypto game, Cryptokitties. Like its feline forebear, Cryptocelebrities rewards early adopters who get to snap up the best digital real estate and then sell it on for a profit. Blockchain-based collectors' games such as these create a level of FOMO that can cause assets to change hands for thousands of dollars. At 4pm EST on Tuesday 23rd January, the Cryptocelebrities site was knocked offline temporarily, believed to be due to high demand.

While the Cryptocelebrities project looks like a shameless cash-in, both on the current craze for blockchain games and on the celebs themselves, it does have some interesting features. One of these is for verified celebrities to control the royalties from the trading of their image and earn a share of the profits. It's hard to imagine the likes of Clint Eastwood or Donald Trump using ether to verify their blockchain counterparts, but it's a bold concept. Vitalik Buterin and Satoshi Nakamoto (depicted here as simply a question mark) also feature.

Don't Get Too Attached
People Are Paying Thousands of Dollars for Crypto Celebrities on the BlockchainAnyone contemplating snapping up Hollywood's – or Crypto's – A-listers would do well not to get too attached. Anyone who wants to buy a celeb off its current owner can do so, and there's nothing its owner can do to halt the sale. As the Cryptocelebrities website explains: "When someone else matches the current price, they'll automatically snatch your Smart Contract. You'll lose the card but you will receive up to double the amount you originally invested in ETH."

If you buy a contract for 0.2 ETH, another player can snatch it away from you. Once that happens, you'll automatically receive 0.4 ETH! Most contracts double in price with each transaction until they reach 1 ETH. Price increase: 2x from 0 ETH to 0.05 ETH, 1.2x from 0.05 ETH to 0.5 ETH and 1.15x from 0.5 ETH up.

Like other blockchain games, the smart contracts that control ownership may be decentralized but the images of the celebs reside on a centralized database. Should Robert Pattinson or Woody Allen's agent step in and exert pressure on Cryptocelebrities to remove their image, traders could be left holding an empty card. Right now, Woody Allen is worth 1.05 ETH, but would anyone be willing to pay a higher free if his image wasn't associated with the smart contract?

At present, Vitalik Buterin is the most traded celeb, with a price tag that stands at 20 ETH, followed by Satoshi Nakamoto and Angelina Jolie on 13 ETH apiece. While it's hard to imagine the pair ever sharing a red carpet, in Cryptocelebrities they stand shoulder to shoulder. Such is the popularity of the site that newly added celebs can change hands a dozen times within the first hour, as traders jostle to complete their Metamask transaction ahead of the competition. In the interests of journalism, news.Bitcoin.com tried – and failed – to snap up Ellie Goulding and Van Morrison.

Someone paid half an ETH for this.
At the time of publication, user mfs7772 is the Cryptocelebs whale, with 24 high-priced contracts in their custodianship including Nicole Kidman, Vitalik Buterin, and Ke$ha. It's easy to write these primitive games off as ephemeral and frivolous – which they undoubtedly are – but they make for a fascinating study of human psychology, whilst demonstrating the concept of digital scarcity and the greater fool theory in action.

Friday, January 19, 2018

SCCEX Will Support BCH Because It Is “Satoshi’s True Bitcoin”

 
Bitcoin Cash is on the minds of a lot of people these days. Whether one loves it or hates it, no one can deny BCH has made its mark on the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole. So much, even, that the Scandinavian Cryptocurrency Exchange (SCCEX) is looking to promote this altcoin. More specifically, it will offer fee-free Bitcoin Cash trading. Moreover, there will be a line of BCH-related banknote-style paper wallets as well.

SCCEX HAS BIG PLANS FOR BITCOIN CASH
In the history of crypto, we have never seen exchanges show such outspoken support for specific altcoins. Although most trading platforms offer support for currencies such as XRP, ETH, and LTC, they have never gone "all-in" on such currencies. However, SCCEX has announced some big plans for Bitcoin Cash, the alternative version of Bitcoin which came to market several months ago.

According to the company's recent announcement, it will not charge any trading fees for BCH trades. That is always a good way to attract more traders, even though the name Scandinavian Cryptocurrency Exchange won't ring a bell for most people. The company also offers fee-free trading for Ethereum Classic, which is another relatively new cryptocurrency which has not gained as much traction just yet. By not charging any fees, the company aims to push adoption of specific altcoins throughout Scandinavia and Europe.

The primary reason for this decision is that SCCEX views Bitcoin Cash as the Bitcoin that Satoshi Nakamoto originally intended to create. It is a statement we have heard before from other companies, even though the jury is still out on whether or not BCH can become the one and true Bitcoin over time. It is certainly true that Bitcoin Cash has a few aspects which make it far more appealing than Bitcoin itself, namely its lower fees, faster transactions, and on-chain scaling. Bitcoin itself should not be discounted just yet either, though, as things will continue to evolve moving forward.

Furthermore, SCCEX plans to introduce some new paper wallets for Bitcoin Cash enthusiasts in the form of physical cryptocurrency banknotes. The design of these notes looks rather appealing in the Medium post, but users can only obtain them by visiting the company's physical offices. It's always nice to have a Bitcoin Cash paper wallet with a far more appealing design, even though people could generate them at home as well if they wanted to do so.

As is always the case with paper wallets, these banknotes are not designed to hold massive amounts of Bitcoin Cash. A paper wallet makes for an excellent gift or collectible item, but there is no reason to deposit hundreds of BCH to the address printed on a paper wallet. It still looks rather beautiful, though, and there will most likely be at least some interest in this particular product. It will be interesting to see if any other cryptocurrency exchanges decide to take a similar "promotional" approach to Bitcoin Cash in the future.

Do keep in mind that SCCEX is not open for business as of right now. Instead, the company expects to launch in April of 2018, with fee-free ETC and BCH trading going live on day one. It is unclear if this is a temporary measure or a permanent policy, though. Assuming it is the latter, things will get very exciting for Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic supporters.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Overstock Glitch Gave Customers ‘Discounts’ With Bitcoin Cash

 


This week security experts found a website glitch on the e-commerce marketplace Overstock that let customers purchase items for a fraction of the price. The reason users were getting such huge discounts is because the system was accidentally allowing bitcoin cash (BCH) purchases in place of items priced in bitcoin core (BTC).

'Big Discounts': Some Overstock Customers Pay for Items Priced in BTC With BCH
Overstock Glitch Gave Customers 'Discounts' With Bitcoin Cash According to the company Krebs on Security and the security firm Bancsec, Overstock's marketplace had a serious glitch allowing people to pay for products priced in BTC in BCH. On January 5 a Krebs researcher chose to purchase three outdoor solar lamps from Overstock which added up to $78.27. At the time Overstock's invoices told the researcher to pay 0.00475574 bitcoins to a specific address. Instead of paying BTC, Krebs on Security decided to send 0.00475574 BCH to the specified address. In a matter of minutes, the researcher purchased the three lamps for roughly $12 worth of bitcoin cash.

If things couldn't get any worse, they did: Krebs decided to get a refund for the three solar lamps purchased with BCH.
"I didn't really want the solar lights, but also I had no interest in ripping off Overstock," explains the Krebs employee.
So I canceled the order — To my surprise, the system refunded my purchase in bitcoin, not bitcoin cash.

Payment Glitch Lasted for Three Weeks
Overstock Glitch Gave Customers 'Discounts' With Bitcoin Cash Krebs contacted Overstock and informed the firm that individuals were allowed to purchase lavish items like diamond rings for very little money compared to the real retail price. Overstock says they disabled the payment method glitch immediately after an independent researcher investigated the problem.

"After working with a researcher to confirm the findings, that method of payment was disabled while we worked with our cryptocurrency integration partner, Coinbase, to ensure they resolved the issue," explains Overstock to Krebs. "We have since confirmed that the issue described in the finding has been resolved, and the cryptocurrency payment option has been re-enabled."

Coinbase revealed to Krebs that the bug existed for "three weeks" and the issue was caused by the merchant partner "improperly using the return values" in the company's  merchant integration API.

What do you think about Overstock accidentally letting people buy items priced in BTC but used BCH instead? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.



Friday, January 12, 2018

The intelligent investors guide to Particl (PART): Part 5 - How will Particl if successfully adopted increase the value of *all* cryptocurrencie

 

The following is a quick announcement about how Particl (PART) if succesfully adopted could potentially increase the value of all cryptocurrencies:

...

Firstly can users only use PART tokens to transact?
 
Short answer: No. Not quite.

Detailed answer: If we understand that Particl is a modular smart contract platform with the decentralised, privacy centric marketplace being the first module to launch then the following responses make more sense:
 
The aim is for the marketplace module to have built-in shapeshift integration. This means any of the (currently 67) cryptocurrencies supported by shapeshift can be transferred to a particl client and automatically converted to the native PART token for transacting on the Particl network.

Furthermore the modular smart contract nature means other widgets and modules can be built to integrate other exchanges (both centralised and decentralised) and services into the Particl network and client e.g changelly integration for USDT:PART integration or widgets that connect direct fiat gateways.

Particl also utilises atomic swaps so any other chain which utilizes atomic swaps can directly interact with the Particl network to exchange/swap PART (foregoing exchanges altogether). Current candidates include LTC, DCR and BTC.
 
To this end its a misconception to think Particle only supports the PART token. It actually supports multiple cryptocurrencies via a mechanic that brings value to the PART token whilst providing a means to buy and sell goods anonymously using those cryptocurrencies.
...
 
There are advantages to this approach:

For one it means Particl can simplify its user interface by driving all core transactions on the Particl network via the PART token.

It makes the Particl platform both a fiat/liquidity magnet as it provides non-speculative value to multiple cryptocurrencies which are sent to it and acts as a liquidity generator since it creates the means for people to buy/sell goods with multiple cryptocurrencies.
 
As the Particl network grows this would strengthen the links between cryptocurrency and fiat whilst simultaneously making cryptocurrency more independent of fiat.
 
This approach creates economic incentives to hold and promote the token and benefits holders as its value increases in a manner proportional to increasing non-speculative use on the Particl network.

Contrast this with systems like syscoin where the native sys token is not essential to transact. It suffers from diminished speculator and thus network effects to propagate spread, promotion and usage of the native token and even if non-speculative use of the syscoin network increases this does necessarily translate to increased buy demand on the sys token.

The PART token is used to secure the Particl network via PoS. Increased non speculative use of the PART token to transact leads to diversification of PART.
 
Those who set their clients to stake to earn a portion of the marketplace/transaction fees + staking rewards thus wind up increasing the node count and diversification which increases the security of the network.
 
The PART token has a dual nature: A public token for where the added cost/verification time of transacting privately is not necessary and where accountability is a requirement (e.g. selling large volume, low cost, high frequency white-hat goods).
 
A large transaction pool is required to make the private ringCT transactions work. If multiple currencies were allowed to buy/sell goods directly (rather than be first converted to the native PART token), the pool of available transactions for RingCT would be diluted and thus the anonymity ringCT provides would be weakened.

...
Particl will provide a system where all the economic, network and pragmatic incentives of cryptocurrency are in perfect alignment, something which is not true of many other systems in cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology.


Perhaps the most important thing I haven't stated is that by integrating all the services it does (the marketplace, the exchanges, the escrow service and the security and privacy features) and allowing for modular expansion under one privacy centric platform, Particl provides convenience and streamlines existing processes for private, anonymous and public commerce independent of traditional fiat.
...

In summary cryptocurrencies that choose to integrate with the Particl platform will instantly find non-speculative uses and revenue. This will drive fiat into those cryptocurrencies and perpetuate a tendency to keep it there, increasing both their liquidity and value as these will now be used to buy and sell goods on the Particl platform via its decentralised marketplace and any other services it offers.

By: Joske

Notorious Domain XBT.com Goes up for Sale at 200 BTC

 


XBT.com, one of the web's most desirable domain names, is up for sale. Its current owners, XBT Holding SA, are seeking 200 BTC – or about $2.9 million – for the site. The domain is coveted partially because XBT is the abbreviation that many institutional trading platforms use for bitcoin, and also on account of the site's notoriety, having been linked to the hacking of the US Democratic Party.

Buy XBT with BTC
It's not often a three-letter dot com domain goes up for sale, but when it does, it's guaranteed to command a premium price tag. XBT.com is of particular interest to bitcoiners, given that the letters XBT are synonymous with bitcoin in some circles. This connection accounts for why the web hosting company in charge of the domain have elected to capitalize on the bitcoin boom and price the domain in BTC.

200 BTC is the starting bid for XBT.com, whose holding page currently shows a "buy now" button or the option to place a bid, complete with the price of bitcoin in real-time, denominated in XBT. There's more to the site than a cool name and a convenient bitcoin connection though: the backstory to XBT.com is the most enthralling part of the whole affair.

In January 2017, Buzzfeed published a story based on information supplied by research group Fusion GPS. It contained a series of allegations about XBT, the Luxembourg-based company currently selling the domain of the same name. XBT, in conjunction with its Webzilla subsidiary, had been complicit in stealing data from the Democratic Party including a damning dossier on Donald Trump, the allegation went. XBT's former CEO Aleksej Gubarev was named specifically in the report, supposedly abetted by Russia's Federal Security Service.

Notorious Domain XBT.com Goes up for Sale at 200 BTCXBT and its then-CEO bitterly contested these allegations, but the cat was already out the bag, and the company's reputation and finances took a hit. Gubarev and XBT took Buzzfeed to court over the story, in a case which is still ongoing in a Florida court. XBT and Buzzfeed have been sniping ever since, with the Luxembourg-based company filing a response to Buzzfeed's attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed entitled "Six Ways BuzzFeed Has Misled the Court (Number Two Will Amaze You) … And a Picture of a Kitten".

Bloomberg quotes Gubarev, via his lawyer, as saying:
This domain has way more value in the hands of someone in the cryptocurrency business. Also, the brand name of XBT has severely suffered due to the false allegations in the dossier, and we are considering re-branding as the result of the reputational damage.

XBT's loss can be one bitcoin entrepreneur's gain, but they'll need to dig deep for the privilege. Aside from the 200 BTC asking price, the auction requires a deposit of $10,000 or 0.5 BTC just to eligible to bid. With no bids received so far, it remains to be seen whether XBT will succeed in shifting one of the web's most infamous domains.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Dubai to Become a Blockchain City

 

Dubai is a city known for its extravagance and technology. Flying taxis, water jet firefighters, and robotic police are all parts of its current reality or future. It would not be a surprise if they were simply looking into smart contracts and cryptocurrencies, but what many may not realize is that they also plan on being the world's first blockchain-powered government.

DUBAI AS A BLOCKCHAIN CITY
There are some immediate and obvious advantages to getting much of a nation's citizenship and other tedious documents which require extensive reconciliation between various organizations onto a blockchain. Distributed, decentralized ledgers offer numerous benefits for this kind of recordkeeping.

Dubai plans to make the majority of city documentation powered by smart contracts by the year 2020. This is ambitious, but not impossible. The various items that will find their way onto the blockchain by then are: visa applications, bill payments, and license renewals. Essentially, anything that currently requires paperwork will likely end up on the blockchain between now and 2020.

This makes an incredible amount of sense, and the amount of money saved by cutting down on man-hours and labor costs is significant.

CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE COINS
While many may assume that these smart contracts and the associated data will be written on a public, already widely-used blockchain, we may need to reconsider. There are many reasons why new cryptocurrencies may be more attractive to governments, such as Dubai's, over others. Namely, there are coins like DubaiCoin (DBIX), which was built and developed by residents of Dubai. One must also consider the fact that Islam (the majority religion in the UAE) also has its own set of financial laws, which would make a locally created coin a more culturally appropriate choice for a predominantly Islamic city.

Please note that this is only a guess, as the Dubai government has not yet announced which blockchain(s) it will employ to facilitate these smart contract functions. Do not take this as financial advice.

OTHER GOVERNMENTS HOLD THEIR BREATH
At the end of the day, this is going to be an incredibly valuable dry run for the rest of the world. This will demonstrate just how effective blockchain technology can be for solving the many challenges that national governments face.

Once the example has been set, the benefits made apparent, and the pitfalls identified, this is going to be a great blueprint for other governments and cities to follow. While the cost of spinning all of this up may be a bit beyond the means of many governments for a while, the price of blockchain adoption will surely decrease the more widespread it becomes.

We should all be excited about this.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Privacy Coins

 

With over 50 privacy coins on the market, purveyors of anonymous transactions are spoilt for choice. This smorgasbord of privacy-centric coins can be a little overwhelming though. To help you pick the best of the bunch, here's our rundown of the main contenders.

How Privacy Coins Work
Bitcoin transactions are semi-anonymous: every transaction on the blockchain is broadcast publicly and visible for all eternity, but the owner of each wallet is unknown. Tying addresses to real-world identities is now relatively easy for the powers-that-be, because everyone has to cash out somewhere, and that usually involves linking bitcoin addresses to bank accounts.

Most privacy coins still rely on a bitcoin-style public ledger, but use technology that obfuscates the path of the transaction. It might still be possible to determine that a certain amount of cryptocurrency was sent, but the path leading from sender to recipient has been concealed. The way in which various privacy coins go about this differs considerably.

Privacy Tech Algorithms
The three most common privacy algorithms are zk-Snarks, Coinjoin, and RingCT. The latter method is used in monero; Coinjoin features in dash and is also being trialed with bitcoin; and zk-Snarks are used by most of the Z coins including Zcash. Here's how they work:

RingCT: Monero's ring signatures allow the sender to hide their transaction among other outputs. In addition, RingCT makes it possible to hide the amount being sent. Coupled with a stealth receiving address, this makes for an extremely discreet way of sending funds. Transparency is optional with monero, which uses an "opaque" blockchain.

How monero's RingCT works.
Coinjoin: Developed by Gregory Maxwell, Coinjoin deploys a 'safety in numbers' approach. When two senders despatch a transaction of an identical amount, this is converted into a joint payment. When this occurs, correlating the transaction inputs and outputs is virtually impossible. There are many variants of Coinjoin including Private Send, which is used by dash, and Coin Shuffle; Cash Shuffle is the version currently being tested with bitcoin cash.

zk-Snarks: Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge is a technology that allows miners to verify transactions without knowing who sent or received the coins. Using a cryptographic hash, each party can prove that a certain statement is true without revealing the precise details of who sent what and where. Although most commonly associated with the Zerocoin family, zk-Snarks are also being tested with ethereum.

The Main Privacy Players
Several of the most popular privacy coins have since forked, creating additional flavors of privacy coin. These spin-offs tend to use the same privacy algorithm but add additional features. We'll consider some of these forks shortly, but first let's examine the big two in the privacy war.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Privacy CoinsZcash: Born out of the Zerocoin protocol, Zcash is basically bitcoin with the option of privacy. There's a fixed supply of 21 million coins (sound familiar?) and despite using a public blockchain, Zcash allows for the sender, recipient, and amount being sent all to be concealed. Researchers have published evidence that suggests some Zcash transactions can be de-anonymized, though for everyday usage, Zcash should still provide enough privacy for most people.

To date, Zcash is mostly being used as a regular cryptocurrency, with only a small portion of users enabling its privacy features. Tellingly, Zcash doesn't have much by way of deep web adoption, a realm whose users are especially paranoid about privacy.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Privacy CoinsMonero: Like Zcash, monero has emerged as a viable cryptocurrency in its own right, even for individuals who aren't interested in privacy. Its privacy tech is highly regarded and numerous deep web marketplaces accept monero. Monero usage surged in the wake of the Alphabay shutdown, after it emerged that feds were unable to determine how much XMR the site's alleged kingpin, Alexandre Cazes, held.

A string of deep web dealers were busted this year after their bitcoin transactions were tied to their real-world identities, and it was around then that monero cemented itself as the darknet's privacy coin of choice. SHUM – Should Have Used Monero – is the default reply on r/darknetmarkets any time another vendor is busted.

The Forked Contenders
The Zerocoin protocol has spawned a slew of Z-named coins, most of which forked from Zcash. There isn't space to detail them all, but the following two are particularly interesting.

Zclassic: ZCL forked from Zcash over concerns that Zcash had an excessive pre-mine. Zclassic has since forged its own path and is currently one of the hottest privacy tokens in town. ZCL has rocketed in value this week due to the forthcoming launch of Bitcoin Private. This is a fork which aims to combine the best bits of bitcoin and Zclassic. Because Bitcoin Private will be available to holders of Zclassic, buyers have bundled into ZCL, pushing its price to over $100, in readiness for the free Bitcoin Private coins they stand to receive at the time of the fork.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Privacy CoinsZencash: ZEN is a fork of Zclassic – that's right, a fork of a fork – but it's got some interesting features, not least encrypted messaging. Like dash, zencash uses nodes as an additional means of securing its network; there are currently almost 5,000 ZEN Secure Nodes in operation. ZEN is a community-oriented project that utilizes many of the principles governing a DAO, and the nascent privacy coin seems to have a solid roadmap in place.



The Hopefuls
The following coins have privacy features either enabled as standard or as an optional extra and are also worthy of consideration.

Dash: By market cap, dash is the biggest coin on this list. It's not an outright privacy coin however, but does have Private Send for users who'd prefer to keep their business to themselves.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Privacy CoinsZcoin: The other Z worth mentioning, Zcoin enables users to "mint" a coin on a public ledger so as to transform it into a private coin. This process can be repeated multiple times, allowing a coin to be sent publicly or privately as desired.

Pivx: An open source project, Pivx is another community-oriented privacy coin. It uses a mixing mechanism that's based on Coinjoin, but which operates in a decentralized manner, aided by a network of masternodes.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Privacy CoinsVerge: XVG is another anonymous cryptocurrency that was designed for privacy-friendly networks such as Tor and I2P. The general consensus is that verge isn't as private as some of its competitors, so don't trust it with your life. On the plus side, it boasts fast and low-cost transactions.

The Rest of the Pack
Unfortunately there isn't space to delve into the inner workings of every privacy coin on the market. When it comes to the likes of Navcoin, Hcash, Cloakcoin, Stealthcoin, Hush, Zoin, Spectrecoin and all the rest, you'll need to do your own research and assess the merits of each coin's privacy tech. With over 50 coins to choose from, you could be reading for some time. This Twitter thread rounds up the rest of the chasing pack.

How to Ensure Complete Privacy
Buying a privacy coin doesn't mean you now operate under a cloak of invisibility. From browser fingerprinting to recording IP addresses, there are various ways in which three-letter agencies can de-anonymize supposedly private transactions. Unless you're a drug lord or a terrorist, though, they've probably got better things to do with their time. In situations where absolute privacy is essential, there are mixers such as Bitmixer and Join Market that can be used to tumble coins and obfuscate their origins.

When using monero, some users split their transaction into multiple hops, often passing through Shape Shift from a different altcoin and then on to an Electrum wallet using Tails. There's no such thing as perfect privacy on the web, but privacy coins make it a lot easier to send and receive funds without broadcasting your business to the world. Expect to see many more privacy-centric coins entering the market in 2018 as the battle for privacy heats up.

Here Are the Crypto Exchanges With the Lowest Fees

 


Considering you've got to pay a network fee every time you want to transfer cryptocurrency, you'd be justified in wanting to avoid excessive exchange fees. It's bad enough that the dollar value of Bitcoin transaction fees can be upwards of double digits, so there's no need to get gouged on withdrawal and trading rates by your favorite exchange. That's why we compiled this handy list of low-fee exchanges so that you can get the best bang for your buck investing that crisp Benjamin your granny gave you for Christmas.

GDAX is Coinbase's exchange counterpart, and conveniently, if you have an existing Coinbase account, you can automatically link it with GDAX. The exchange charges 0% for maker trades, 0.25% for Bitcoin taker trades, and 0.30% for Litecoin and Ethereum taker trades (maker trades provide liquidity by creating a new buy/sell offer that is not immediately filled, while taker trades remove liquidity by taking a standing buy/sell offer and are filled immediately). GDAX does not charge for deposits or withdrawals.

Coinbase, on the other hand, charges a 1.49% fee for currency purchased using a bank account and 3.99% (yikes) for purchases using a credit/debit card. When we compare the two – and factor in the fact that you can use GDAX with your Coinbase account – GDAX is a no-brainer for fiat-to-crypto trading pairs.

BINANCE
Once you've got your wallet loaded with some coins, Binance is a great exchange option if you're looking to take that Ethereum or Bitcoin and turn it into some altcoins.

Binance offers incredibly low rates, charging a flat 0.1% for all buy and sell orders with no deposit fee. Withdrawal fees vary on a coin-by-coin basis.

Even better, if you're trading with Binance's own coin (BNB), all exchange fees are cut in half to 0.05%. That's hands down the lowest you'll see an exchange charge for trading on its platform.

Like Binance, HitBTC is another solid choice for low-fee trading. While it may not be as popular as other exchanges and includes fewer markets, HitBTC only charges a 0.1% fee on buy/sell orders.

For deposits, HitBTC does not charge a fee, but rates for withdrawals vary by coin.

Bitfinex charges a bit more than Binance and HitBTC do, but not by much. This exchange charges a 0.1% maker fee and a 0.2% taker fee. This is compared to Bittrex, which charges a constant 0.25% for both taker and maker trades.

As you probably guessed by now, Bitfinex has no deposit fee, but like those before it, there's a withdrawal fee that varies from coin to coin.

These two are at the bottom of our list because while they still have lower fees than some of the other choices out there, the exchanges we've listed so far have them beat.

On Poloniex, maker fees come in at 0.15%, while taker fees will run you 0.25%. Funnily enough, Kraken is just 0.01% higher on both fronts, with 0.16% and 0.26% for maker and taker trades, respectively.

You already know what's coming, don't you? Yep: no deposit fees, and withdrawal fees vary.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

11 The intelligent investors guide to Particl (PART): Part 4 - Is there a huge unmet demand for 100% private 2-party transactions? (self.Particl)

 

Is there a huge unmet demand for 100% private 2-party transactions?

...

Yes.

...

Privacy centric markets e.g. Particl (PART) are useful for:

 

  • Privacy enthusiasts.

  • People who wish to live independent of fiat.

  • People who live in localities where crypto is not taxed or recognized as a legal unit of exchange (potentially legally bypassing local tax laws).

  • Grey market purchases (nootropics, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, alcohol, luxury goods, knockoff's (including unbranded device clones or items which are essentially legal but copyright may be an issue).

  • Embarrassing legal goods purchases or purchases you do not want appearing on a credit card statement (sex toys is an obvious one; I'm sure there are more)

  • People in countries with unstable economies (Venezuela, Zimbabwe) where local currency hyperinflation means purchasing various goods in native currency is pointless/expensive/cumbersome but using alternative non-private currencies to transact (e.g. Bitcoin) may result in prosecution.

  • Legal transaction of goods internationally but the need to keep location of buyer/sender publicly hidden due to local/regional restrictions or requirements for other bureaucracy if purchased in fiat

  • Extremely sensitive research and development or manufacturing projects especially product manufacture where for whatever reason the design, parts and manufacturing process must be completely unknown or obscurable.

  • Purist use as a store of value, anonymous secure, large OTC cryptocurrency transactions and wholeseller/sensitive R&D or confidential supply chain transactions is a massive legal use case area.

  • Whole seller/boutique manufacturing and R&D is probably the biggest legal use case especially where patent's or highly sensitive data is concerned and for whole sellers and large scale manufacturers who wish to keep their trade secrets intact.

  • Providing a safe, secure competitive edge when negociating with multiple contractors. MAD Escrow service serves as a nice deposit feature for lock on of contracts for large scale distributors where trust or quality concerns may be an issue.

  • Sometimes the convenience associated with trading on a fully anonymous platform (where the client node locations are anon and the buyer/seller/amount are publicly anon) in terms of keeping paperwork and records but still trading goods for a fungible currency) outweighs the risks. Anyone who has ever had to do company accounts will understand what a pain in the ass these are to keep and produce.

  • Any transaction where only the buyer and seller can know about the nature of the transaction. This relates back to R&D, sensitive information exchange but is facilitated by PARTICL having a trustless, automated non-human escrow (the MAD mutually assured destruction escrow) to ensure both buyer and seller are complicit in ensuring delivery of payment and delivery of goods in acceptable condition.

...

I've discussed this with a friend who tinkers in making all kinds of legal useful gadgets (we're talking voice activated Iron Man suits with built in LCD screens, Thor Hammers and tonnes of custom cosplay stuff in amazing quality); he'd be reluctant to sell these on eBay due to litigation risks but he'd make a killing selling these anonymously online; these are definitely things people want and would enjoy. There's a tonne of stuff on alibaba which would be ideal to sell on the Particl network; true anonymity creates an incentive to justify many of the negatives I've outlined.

 

The stuff he's building would actually be legal to sell in many jurisdictions where copyright laws are more relaxed but centralised services would never tolerate due to their need to appease international corporate interests regardless of laws. Decentralized private commerce would allow him to serve those jurisdictions with confidence.

...

I've also had the pleasure of discussing distributed ledger technologies with an analyst at BNY Mellon who highlighted his opinion that the two big things large investment banks look for in blockchain technology are scalability and privacy. These are banks whose transaction volumes can be in the billions of USD per trade. Discretion for their clients and representatives is paramount and freely publicly viewable records of transactions on a block chain represent a potential disadvantage to adoption. Privacy is paramount and solutions which preserve it protect security.

 

It is unfortunate that in recent times a need for privacy has been confused or maligned in popular culture with the desire to commit illegal activity. In day to day practice, the need for privacy of data transmission and transaction settlement manifests in the designs of all major institutions be it medical records in healthcare, government and corporate memos and communications or even transmission of social media and personal communications. Privacy is fundamentally associated with security and by extension safety.

...

With that in mind, if you started this questioning the value and scope for privacy markets, I hope it is more apparent that the market and volume for true privacy centric, trustless listings, transactions, communications, escrow and marketplace settlement is probably much larger than you realized.

By: Joske

Bitcoin’s Market Cap Surpasses the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights Reserves

 


Twenty-four hours ago the decentralized cryptocurrency bitcoin and its US$300Bn market capitalization just surpassed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Drawing Rights market (SDR $291Bn).

Bitcoin's Market Valuation Outpaces the IMF's Special Drawing Rights Reserves
Bitcoin's value has grown immensely in 2017 outperforming nearly every world currency, stock, and commodity this year. With a global average of over $18,000 per BTC and a $300Bn+ market valuation bitcoin has surpassed the IMF's international reserve assets ($291Bn). The SDR is comprised of a 'basket of legal tender' from five nation-states. The value of the SDR, also known as XDRs, is based off a percentage of Chinese renminbi, U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen, the euro, and the British pound sterling. The SDR was created in 1969 using the Bretton Woods exchange system, and before 1973 it contained the value of 0.8 grams of gold.

The SDR Gains Traction This Year As the U.S. Loses Ground, and Countries Decouple from the USD
Bitcoin's Market Cap Surpasses the IMF's Special Drawing Rights ReservesThe IMF's Special Drawing Rights market has always been controversial since the day it was introduced. Essentially, the basket of currencies are allocated to countries by the IMF and a nation participating in the exchange market has to have reserves. Many skeptics believe the IMF is creating a "globalist one world currency" so it can continue to keep the central banking system in power. This year has been an interesting year for the SDR, as the reserve has gained in value in comparison to other solitary nation-state currencies. The trend has seen an uptick due to a few nations decoupling from the USD, as the IMF revealed this past summer that America was no longer the top economic powerhouse. These days other countries like Germany, Russia, and China are making monetary moves on their own.

Bitcoin's Black Swan Event and the Next Transfer of Wealth
Bitcoin's Market Cap Surpasses the IMF's Special Drawing Rights ReservesHowever, the citizens of the world, the ones without borders, are riding the lightning growth of a different kind of currency. Bitcoin has become the censorship-resistant black swan economy that's not issued by a nation state or corporation. In fact, the decentralized currency came from an anonymous creator, and it's a software made up of digits and code that millions of people trust. Bitcoin has become an internet-infused 'people's money,' and the technology is shifting a lot of wealth into the hands of individuals in a way that's not been seen since the oil rush back in 1859. Even the International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde says bitcoin will cause "massive disruptions" to the existing financial system.

"In many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money. The best response by central bankers is to continue running effective monetary policy, while being open to fresh ideas and new demands, as economies evolve," explains Lagarde this September. 

The currency was born in 2009 and bitcoin has come along way since 10,000 BTC happened to be traded for two Papa Johns pizzas in 2010. A year later the currency reached parity with the U.S. dollar and rose to thirty dollars during its first "bubble." The reason it was called a bubble is because, shortly after, markets dipped to a low of $2. For a while, the price remained stable, but slowly rose to $13 in December of 2012. Then in the spring of 2013, the price jumped to $266 and rallied to a high of $1,242 across global exchanges. Again the high didn't last long as the price took a bearish dive all year after the Mt Gox exchange lost 800,000 BTC, and went bankrupt. That year economic pundits and financial publications called bitcoin the "worst currency of the year."

Bitcoin's Value Matures Greatly In 2017
In 2015 bitcoin started gradually rising once again and captured the top performing currency in 2015 and 2016. After the new year and into 2017 bitcoin once again surpassed $1,000 per BTC. It started its phenomenal rise that has stayed consistent every month since then. In March of 2017 bitcoin proponents thought it was a big deal when the decentralized currency surpassed the spot price of one troy ounce of .999 gold. However, bitcoin's capitalization even today is tiny in comparison to the gold market's 9 trillion annual valuation. Still, bitcoin is bigger than many of the capitalizations tethered to corporate entities and stocks. For instance, bitcoin's market cap is larger than Paypal, IBM, Disney, General Electric, McDonalds, and even the global fine arts market.

NEO Receives Its First ICO Template

 

NEO Receives Its First ICO Template JP Buntinx  December 15, 2017  Crypto, News TheMerkle NEO Price Supply Increase
It is only a matter of time until we see more ICO projects run on top of the NEO infrastructure. Like Ethereum, NEO wants to cater to this crowd. Whether or not it can do so without legal repercussions remains a big question. For now, there is a NEO ICO template for people to check out, which seemingly checks all of the right boxes for running a successful campaign.

It is always interesting to see how people create templates for raising money, which can then be used and modified by others to fit their needs. Ethereum has such ICO templates and there are even dedicated "guides" on how to create and issue tokens. Smart contracts are valuable tools in this regard, especially considering that both Ethereum and NEO have this technology at their disposal. In a way, it seems inevitable we will see another ICO boom involving the NEO ecosystem in the future.

With the new template unveiled to the public, it will become a lot easier for most companies and projects to host their ICO on the NEO network. Although most people will still prefer to run an ICO on the Ethereum network, it is evident that infrastructure can't always cope with the growing demand for such tokens. Every time a very popular initial coin offering happens on the Ethereum blockchain, it is only a matter of time until the network clogs up and causes a lot of issues.

Whether or not NEO will run into similar problems in the future remains to be determined, though. It is certainly possible its infrastructure may not fare much better, of course. This open-sourced template will certainly attract a lot of attention in the future, although NEO may still face repercussions for allowing ICOs to be organized in the first place. The team claims it is free from scrutiny by the Chinese government, but this has not been confirmed in any official capacity.

As one would expect, this ICO template touches upon some critical aspects of creating an initial coin offering. The contract has built-in refund capabilities and it can even reject transactions if needed. More specifically, if a crowdsale is over and someone tries to send money, their transaction will be rejected and the funds will not leave their wallet. It is an integral part of creating a proper ICO infrastructure, to say the very least.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this template is how it enforces KYC regulations. Any NEO address participating in an ICO must be verified through a KYC service. Once such addresses are verified, they will automatically be eligible to partake in the initial coin offering. Any address not officially verified will be disallowed. Although the contract template doesn't provide the KYC framework necessary to verify the addresses themselves, it's an interesting addition nonetheless.

Whether or not we will see any major interest in NEO-based ICOs remains to be seen. Some projects are already in existence, although there's still a very long way to go in this regard. Initial coin offerings will remain popular for quite some time to come, despite opposition from regulators and governments around the world. NEO may become the new go-to solution for initial coin offerings, although nothing has been set in stone just yet.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

The intelligent investors guide to Particl (PART): Part 3 - How will Particl succeed in gaining price appreciation, adoption and network effect where centralised anonymous marketplaces fail?

 

How will Particl succeed in gaining price appreciation, adoption and network effect where centralised anonymous marketplaces fail?

It's real simple. Particl is not a centralised marketplace so you would need to take the majority of the nodes down to compromise the network.

 

Contrast this with tradtional centralised marketplaces where taking down a handful of servers can shut down the entire service leading to loss of any funds held there.

  • The Particl nodes can be run on the tor network for added security thus the network is inherently more resistant to tradtional hacks, takedowns and DDOS attacks.

  • Integration of the currency into the platform means that the value of the PART token will increase rapidly as use of the marketplace increases.

  • This is because although Particl can accept multiple cryptocurrencies, these will all be converted in the Particl client into PART token via integration of shapeshift exchange and other decentralized exchanges into the Particl client before being used to transact on the Particl network.

  • Thus there is a constant buy pressure on the PART token to raise its daily trading volume, attract speculators who will then promote the platform further (after learning about it) and thus speading the network effect and awareness about the marketplace.

  • Integration of the currency into the platform also makes it easier to use as it reduces the number of additional trusted third party services required to zero, thus the service is more accessible, secure, safer and convenient.

  • XMR and DNM's are currently the way with regards to anonymous, private commerce but the Particl network provides all their services integrated and avoids all their inherent problems.

  • A design which encourages convenience (integration of the currency exchange/converter, marketplace listings, escrow service, currency, communications, security features and any additional services required under one client operating on a separate chain).


Compare with centralized marketplace's which have a number of distinct disadvantages:

  • Have far higher fees

  • Are governed by centralized authorities which can delist or prevent you from listing products for any reason whatsoever without any recourse; this also prevents buyers from being able to purchase things they want

  • Contain your sensitive data (credit card information, purchase/sell history, personal information) on centralized servers which means your information can be sold to third-parties, governments or leaked during hacks (Equifax anyone?)

  • Have zero network effects -- unless you own stock in Amazon.com you couldn't give two shits about how it operates

 

In contrast decentralized privacy centric MP's do not require personal information, can benefit from leveraging the network effects of speculation (Bitcoin circa 2013 is a perfect example), can have low or zero transaction fee's and protect sellers from premature, unfair or even illegal delisting i.e. protect buyers and sellers from censorship where none is required or where censorship is questionable.

 

  • Furthermore the tax implications of cryptocurrency have yet to be determined. PART wouldn't qualify as just a currency as it has features that make it more in keeping with a bond and a share simultaneously (as the token confers governance rights, generates passive income if staked and is used to secure the network + act as bond in it's escrow service). Tax laws specific to an asset class like PART have yet to be clearly defined. I think a large amount of legal white market commerce could run through Particl simply because it potentially represents a more legally tax efficient solution.

  • Following on from this I think a large amount of wealth that has moved into cryptocurrency wants to stay there. Thus the general market for legal goods acquired tax efficiently through multiple cryptocurrencies is potentially untapped and could explode as crypto marketcap continues to grow. I think this represents a case for all decentralised marketplaces.

 

This argument in general is the case for decentralization of marketplace technologies and is the main use case for District0x, Openbazaar, Syscoin etc.


By: Joske